


The Most Vivid Dream

by fromaLongLineofTVDetectives



Series: 2017 Trope Challenge Fics [4]
Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Body swap challenge, Humor, MFMM Year of Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 14:14:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10788360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromaLongLineofTVDetectives/pseuds/fromaLongLineofTVDetectives
Summary: Using the thinnest of reeds to tie thesefabulous gifs of Essie Davis in The White Princessto the body swap challenge.





	The Most Vivid Dream

**Melbourne – November, 1936**

Jack finished the evening’s last sip of whiskey and soundlessly placed his empty glass on the side table, atop his recently finished novel. The parlor fire was nearly out. 

The wireless rumbled quietly in the corner, a recording of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra interspersed with the gravelly voice of the news announcer updating the citizens of the British Empire and its Commonwealth on the looming Abdication Crisis – would Edward VIII marry the divorcee Wallis Simpson and make her Queen? Would he abdicate to his brother, choosing love over duty? The news was largely worry and speculation mixed with the barest hint of new facts. 

Jack paid it little mind. The King would do what the King would do. It was not his concern. 

Instead, his concern was the woman sound asleep on the sofa next to him, resting her head peacefully in his lap. 

“Phryne,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. “Time to move upstairs, love.” 

But Phryne never woke up peacefully from these kinds of deep sleeps. She would be disoriented and out of sorts, Jack knew, asking why he let her sleep here for so long when they could have gone to bed hours ago. 

“Phryne,” he tried again, a little louder this time. He stroked her shoulder gently, thinking that he should have developed a sure-fire technique for waking her up in these situations during their years together. 

“Jack,” she finally answered, voice groggy and far away. “Where am I?” 

Then after sitting up and adjusting her eyes to the dim light of their parlor, Phryne came to a fuller awareness. 

“I had the strangest dream.” 

Jack crossed the room to turn off the wireless, extending his hand to indicate that they should change location. 

“Were you listening to Shakespeare?” she asked. 

“Richard the Third,” he replied. “You were also, remember? They’re broadcasting all the history plays this month.” 

“The history plays bore me,” Phryne said. 

_Yes_ , Jack thought, but didn’t say out loud. _That’s probably why you fell asleep._ Instead he raised his eyebrows and tried once again to indicate that she should move upstairs. She stayed seated. 

“The dream was so vivid. I was Elizabeth.” 

“From Richard the Third?” he asked. “Elizabeth Woodville.” 

“Yes, but later in history. Richard was dead, and I was…. oh.... thrown into the dungeon by the new king.” Phryne concentrated intently, trying to move the fragments of dream memory into consciousness before they disappeared completely. 

“The dungeon,” Jack repeated, taking his place next to her on the sofa. 

“Well, I _was_ trying to have him assassinated,” she continued. “My daughter, the new Queen, got me a much nicer incarceration at an abbey.” 

“That’s not in the Shakespeare,” he responded drily. “And I’m starting to think we shouldn’t have spicy food so close to bedtime.” 

“It was amazing, though,” Phryne continued, eyes full of expression. “It felt like I was Elizabeth, experiencing all of her feelings and sensations with only the slightest hint of my own awareness. It was more like a body swap than a dream.” 

“But the dungeon…” 

“I was barely in the dungeon. But there were processions, cold stony castles, jewels, and the most sumptuous blue gown. And so many children. Jack! I had ten children, at least, mostly girls. Richard killed the boys, you see. That’s why I had to be so devious to try to return power to the Yorks! There was witchcraft…” 

Jack tried not to laugh. He really did. But Phryne was just so animated and alive and joyful in her body as she tried to explain the wonder and vividness of the dream. 

When she said _witchcraft_ with a tone that suggested how she thrilled she was by the very thought of it, Jack couldn’t help but guffaw out loud. 

And what could Phryne do but laugh robustly right along with him? 

She did also offer a playful slap to his shoulder and mock indignation, “Jack Robinson, you are laughing at me!” 

“No, darling,” he replied, equally playful, “I’m laughing with you.” 

“It’s not nice,” she teased, rising from the sofa and extending her hand to him, finally ready to move upstairs. 

Jack took her hand readily, but stopped them both for a moment at the parlor door. 

“Phryne,” he began, voice warm and full of admiration, “You are the most wonderfully alive person I have ever had the joy to know. If you occasionally have to overflow into other consciousnesses to express that life force…” 

Phryne giggled as he reached the word _consciousnesses_ and then burst into another round a laughter. 

“You almost pulled that off, darling,” she said drily. 

“But the first part was quite good,” he replied with a smile. 

“The first part was excellent,” Phryne answered. “Let’s go upstairs.” 

**Author's Note:**

> The complete works of William Shakespeare were referenced but not harmed in the making of this fic.....
> 
>  
> 
> There's a lovely interview that Essie gave somewhere during "The Babadook" press roll out about her acting process. She says that the "buzz" of acting for her is the rare moments when she has the experience of going so deeply into the truth of a character that she is mostly feeling the character's sensations but still has the slightest hint of her own conscious awareness hovering above. I've been thinking of that quote for a few weeks in relation to this month's challenge, but it wasn't until I watched last night's ep of The White Princess that this idea came together.


End file.
